Wednesday, March 24, 2010


The Colours of Spring

It is late in the afternoon when I suggest to Charles that we make a foray into Spring and discover how the season progresses down the Valley (where it is a smidgen earlier and where the buttercups and yellowbells first dot the hills).

We turn left at the end of the lane, on to the highway, but at the first opportunity we take a side road that follows the river to Cawston.

We round the corner by the park, where a forsythia bush is glowing in the afternoon sun,


and take the road down to Ginty's Pond.


The sun catches the disintegrating bullrushes with a luminous glow

as if they were held from below as fairy flares.


The road is lined with scarlet willow


until we come to an open patch of meadow on the left,

where the sap is rising sweetly in the shrubs

that border the pond.


As we turn at the end of the road the hills across the river

fold green above us.


and an old gnarled evergreen dominates the pasture beneath it


More gloriously vibrant shrubs align the
bullrushes that clog the water


Great tall trees in the midst of dressing themselves in Spring's tender greenery


and then a radiant grove of birch, smooth as satin
and intertwined with red willow


A last glimpse of the brilliant new growth in the pond

and two nesting Teals


and we turn and follow the road to the Upper Bench

where the peach trees are promising an imminent show of pink blossoms

and the hills are green and verdant.


As we drive through the orchards blocks of apricot trees

are blooming tentatively in the face of a late spring frost.


We go the long way home and stop to watch the calves below us

where the fields are green and the creek snakes along the edge



We turn back to the highway, crossing a small bridge that spans the creek.

The willows that follow its course are as spectacular today

as they were in all their fall finery, and the dried grasses whisper in the spring breeze.




We come home to happy hour and the gold of daffodils


and a lovely hour of piano music provided by

our oldest son, who followed us up the lane!

And full of awe at the stirrings of life and the beauty

that accompanies it.

3 comments:

Strawberry Jam Anne said...

Thank you for taking me along on your lovely Spring walk, very much appreciated and I don't feel a bit tired! A

Barb said...

Thank you for that drive through early spring, Hildred. I would have loved to hear the piano playing, too. The forsythia is terrific! (I still see a bit of snow up high, though...)

uberrhund said...

Hildred that is the most beautiful scenery I have seen in a long time!
Thank you for sharing your lovely valley and home with us!